


Day 3: Heaven

by GemmaRose



Series: Klance Week [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Crushes, Galra Keith (Voltron), M/M, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-06
Updated: 2016-08-06
Packaged: 2018-07-29 17:22:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7693024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shameless wingfic feat. mutual scritches.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Day 3: Heaven

Keith may not have been well-versed in anything fictional, but even after getting kicked out of the Garrison he did follow the news. He knew as much as anyone else about _Homo sapiens avium_ , the new subspecies which had appeared just under a decade ago. Roughly one in every two hundred million people had something special in their genes which, at the start of puberty, caused them to grow wings. Most of them lived at a large lab somewhere in Western Europe, but a few were celebrities. And one of them, apparently, was a Paladin of Voltron. That one was a bit of a surprise.

Lance laid as still as death in the cryo-tube, wings tucked awkwardly around his skinny frame. They were just as filthy as the rest of him, and one of them had looked broken when he went in the pod, but even damaged and filthy they were a sight to see. Blue-green on the top where the feathers were small and packed tight, grey with stripes of black and white along the edge on the bottom where the feathers were longer and more splayed out. He’d never seen a real winged human in person before, and now Lance wasn’t awake to yell at him for staring so he could look as much as he wanted. He sort of wanted to touch them too, see what real feathers felt like when they were still attached to a warm body, but Lance would never allow that.

\---

“You guys having a clock party?” Lance mumbled, slumping over Hunk’s shoulder to look at Pidge’s phone and Coran’s ticker.

“Aww, Lance. You ruined it.” Hunk groused, then it seemed to register who he was talking to and his face lit up. “Hey, Lance!” he scooped the Blue Paladin up in a bear hug so hard Keith swore he heard the scrawny pilot squeak. The scrawny, distinctly wingless pilot.

“What happened?” Lance groaned once his feet were back on the ground, leaning more than a little bit on Hunk.

“We can tell you all about it while you get something to eat.” Allura said kindly, placing a hand on Lance’s bare skin. “Are you able to walk? Or, uh, fly?”

Lance’s cheeks and ears darkened with blush. “You saw them.” he said quietly, distinctly ashamed for no apparent reason.

“Well, yeah.” Hunk grinned. “Dude, you’re an Avium, that’s so cool!”

“How are you hiding your wings?” Pidge asked before Lance could reply. “I’ve heard that Avium wings can fold against the back pretty well, but yours are just, gone.”

Lance ducked his head, and Keith’s eyes widened as the skin on his teammate’s back rippled, a pair of wings rising up through it like water. He shook them out once they were fully revealed, and Keith’s breath caught in his throat. Lance’s wings had been as dirty as the rest of him yesterday, feathers all askew and clogged with dust and blood, but not anymore. Now their colour was clear to see, and Keith was sure he’d never seen any bird with such beautiful plumage.

“They’re gorgeous.” he murmured, and Lance’s whole face went dark with blush.

Okay.” Shiro broke the silence before it had a chance to get awkward. “Lance, go get dressed and meet us in the kitchen.”

Lance nodded once, and turned to leave the room.

-

“So, how _did_ you make your wings disappear like that?” Pidge asked as soon as Lance was seated at the table.

“Yeah, I wanna know too.” Hunk chimed in. “That’s a really neat ability. I’ve never heard of it, either.”

“Of course not.” Lance shifted awkwardly, wings fluttering a bit behind him. “You think any Avium who can hide their wings would let people know about it?”

“Wait, so it’s not, like, something that runs in your family?” Pidge frowned.

“I’m adopted.” Lance said, his tone suggesting he’d told Pidge this before. Knowing the Green Paladin, Keith was willing to bet Pidge had been more focused on some interesting bit of tech than on Lance’s answer. “I don’t know how it works, but since only Amalia and I knew, I was safe.” his wings curled forward, and his head dropped a bit.

“Safe from what?” Keith asked.

“Becoming a test subject!” Lance’s fists clenched. “If I went to that lab, I never would’ve been any kind of pilot at all.” he stuffed a spoonful of food goo in his mouth, and swallowed quickly. “So, what happened to Sendak?” he asked, pulling his wings tight against his back and pulling his shirt on over them. There was a ripple under the fabric, and Keith wondered how long it would take for Lance to realize that there was no point in hiding his pretty wings anymore.

\---

“Can I pet you?”

Keith lifted his head at the sudden question, ears flicking forward slightly. “What?”

Lance was sprawled out on the couch next to Keith’s armchair, very obviously not doing any of the schoolwork Allura had assigned them. “Dude, even your stupid mullet looks soft and fluffy. I’ve been dying to touch it.” he lifted a hand, and made a grabbing motion. “C’mon, let me pet you.”

“Only if I can touch your wings.” Keith replied, then pulled back slightly. Why had he just said that? Yeah he’d wanted to stroke Lance’s wings for months now, and the fact that the Blue Paladin now left them out all the damn time was a bit distracting, but usually his brain-to-mouth filter was better than that.

Lance stiffened, wings pulling tight to his back, but after a moment he relaxed again. “Sure.” he grinned, sitting up and scooting over to the end of the couch closer to Keith. He extended a wing, and Keith carefully brushed the pads of his fingers over the offered feathers. They were softer than he expected, pliant, and Lance made a soft sound when Keith’s claws made contact with the skin beneath. “That’s nice.” Lance moaned, leaning back into his touch.

Keith lifted his hand after another few scratches, and Lance looked over his shoulder with a grin much softer than his usual cocky smirk. “I get to pet you now, right?”

Keith nodded, and Lance’s wings folded loosely against his back as he turned around to lean over the arm of the couch. His hand went straight for Keith’s ear, and Keith forced himself not to react as the Blue Paladin’s fingers brushed over the fluffy purple fur which covered the back of his pointed ears.

“Wow, it really is soft.” Lance grinned, moving his hand closer to Keith’s skull. His fingers rubbed against the spot where cartilage met bone, and Keith couldn’t help leaning into the pressure. Lance chuckled, and scratched at the fluff-covered skin again. “You’re like a big cat.”

“And you’re like an angel.” Keith fired back. Lance froze, a blush rising on his face, and Keith was pretty sure his purple skin went grey-ish. Sure he’d been thinking it ever since Lance shook his gorgeous wings out in front of them for the first time, but he’d never meant to _say_ it. “Bird!” he yelled, jumping out of the armchair and nearly tripping over his own two feet. “I mean you’re like a big, stupid bird!” he stalked towards Lance, and punched him in the shoulder. “Birdbrain.” he spat, and Lance’s eyes narrowed.

“You wanna go, alley cat?” Lance snapped back, wings flaring out as he leapt to his feet.

“Bring it on!”

This was good, this was navigable territory. They’d fight, Shiro or Allura would chastise them for not using the training room, and Lance would be back to his usual self by dinner. The Blue Paladin was terrible in a fistfight, probably always would be since his bayard refused to form anything shorter range than a shotgun, and Keith had him pinned in under thirty seconds. Lance was breathing hard, a slight sheen of sweat beading on his brow, already whining about how Keith never fought fair. As if there was such thing as fair in a real fight.

With his hands pinned by Keith’s he looked, well, divine. Keith quickly stood, turned on his heel, and stalked out of the room.

**Author's Note:**

> Lance’s wings are based on the Cuban trogon, which is the national bird of Cuba and absolutely beautiful. When he decides to stop hiding his wings all the time, Lance cuts slits in the back of his T-shirt and hoodie. His flight suit adapts on its own, because those things are definitely designed to adapt to their wearer.
> 
> I may have to revisit this AU later, because Lance with wings has potential to be really funny and also really awesome. Like, he barely knows what his wings are doing when he’s not keeping them folded up. He has no clue how to fly, and face-planting into the floor is always funny. But also the imagery of a winged Paladin of Voltron is pretty awesome, and flight is a damn good power for a sniper to have.


End file.
